FIVE IN A ROW FOR KISS, AS HE WINS FIRST RACE IN POZNAŃ
It was a typical lights-to-flag win for reigning champion Norbert Kiss in the opening race of the Poland round, leaving Jochen Hahn and Sascha Lenz to fight over the remainder of the podium as he cruised to victory.
Kiss did exactly what he needed to off the start, achieving a clean get away to begin to pull his lead from those chasing behind. Although left to his own devices for the 11 laps, he only gained five seconds on the grid, showing that it is appearing harder to build a gap at he TOR Poznań when compared to other tracks. This could be a key feature in the reverse grid Race Two in a couple of hours’ time.
Hahn held onto second with a strong defence on Lenz in the closing laps of the race. The SL Apollo Tyres TruckSport driver tried everything he could to find a gap past the multiple champion, but it was to no avail. They completed the podium in truck numerical order (#1, #2, #3).
Jamie Anderson matched his best result of the year, holding off Antonio Albacete for fourth at the chequered flag. The Brit got the run on the Spaniard going into Turn 1, utilising the inside line and the switch back going into Turn 2 to promote himself to a position he wouldn’t give up. The race was a decent showcase of Anderson’s ability to not crack under the pressure, something he showed a lot last season with his reverse pole victories in even numbered races.
A near-miss incident at the start of the race gave José Eduardo Rodrigues Promoter’s Cup victory after a stellar start saw him climb from tenth on the overall grid. Going slightly off track, Steffi Halm in the #44 truck almost spun horizontal to the racing field but managed to catch it before a serious incident occurred. The throw up of dust from her going off gave Rodrigues the chance to improve on his good start, being sixth overall and leading the Promoter’s Cup by the end of the last lap.
The class victory was even more important to the Portuguese driver, as Promoter’s Cup rival Steffen Faas failed to finish the race as his truck came to a halt at Turn 5 with technical issues.
Race-by-race entry Lukas Hahn held off Titan driver André Kursim to take second in Promoter’s Cup, seventh overall. Kursim was pushing the German hard throughout the race, but Hahn was unflappable under pressure, showing a very mature drive to take him to his first podium of the weekend. Mark Taylor closed off the Promoter’s Cup podium with his first on-track class podium of the season. Taylor was third in class in Race 3, Slovakia Ring, when Rodrigues was handed a penalty that dropped him down the finishing order, but this is the first Taylor has raced to and achieved on merit.
Clemens Hecker had been having a good race, reeling in Taylor not only for Promoter’s Cup third but a top ten overall finish when he went wide, going into the gravel trap around the circuit. He managed to continue, and his superior pace in his Scania truck saw him making back most of the positions he lost. He couldn’t pass Luis Recuenco, however, giving him 12th overall, fifth in class at the chequered flag.
A quiet race for John Newell and Johnathan André saw them close off the finishing order, 13th and 14th respectively.
Lukas Hahn will take reverse grid pole for Race 2, lining up beside Steffi Halm. Halm will be rearing to go to get her first podium and potential win of the season, but Lukas Hahn has a good track record starting from reverse pole having taken his only overall victory from that spot at the Nürburgring last season.
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